The Iraq War Profiteers?

[BJ]

Of the five current members of the United States Congress vying for the Democratic party's presidential nomination, only Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio voted against the 2002 Iraq War Resolution giving President George Dubya Bush unbridled authority in deciding whether this nation would deal with Saddam Hussein through peacefully diplomacy or the expedience of war.

Three of the four candidates who voted aye on the IWR, Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, all represent parts of the country heavily dependent on the defense industry.

Congressman Gephardt's Third Missouri U.S. Congressional District is home of aerospace giant Boeing's McDonnell Douglas division. Here's a few recent leads concerning this major defense contractor from the St. Louis Business Journal:

Local Boeing unit gets $10.9M Navy contract

The Boeing Co.'s McDonnell Douglas Corp. has received a $10.9 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy for flight tests on the F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, the Department of Defense said Monday
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Or this one from earlier in December

Local Boeing unit gets $14.4M contract for Hornet work

The Boeing Co.'s St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas Corp. unit has received a $14.4 million contract modification for in-service logistics and engineering support for the U.S. Navy and foreign military sales of the F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet aircraft, the U.S. Department of Defense said

But enough of Dick and Boeing, there's plenty of links to other related stories at the same Web site.

Let's see what's shakin' up Joe Lieberman's way in the "Nutmeg State":

United Technologies profit rises

Advancing military business offset commercial aviation woes


ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARTFORD, Conn. United Technologies Corp.’s third-quarter earnings rose 4 percent, with growth in military business offsetting the continued problems in the commercial aviation industry.
(-snip-)




Look's like good times ahead for UTC and Connecticut, so what's going on up the road in Massachusetts?

The December 8 Boston Business Journal reported:

Defense dollars flow to broad range of area firms

Sheri Qualters
Journal Staff
As the conflict continues in Iraq and the war on terror rages on, the area's defense contractors are awash in Department of Defense money, with such unexpected industries as advertising and pharmaceutical companies sharing the wealth.
(-snip-)


How can John Kerry sleep at night? This is the guy, after all, who testified against the war in Vietnam before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 and pointedly asked the senators: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Maybe Heinz 57 heiress fortune wife Teresa's trust fund has major stock holdings in Raytheon, maker of the Patriot missile system? Or perhaps the good senator's angling for a fellowship at M.I.T. when he tires of the hurly-burly of politics?

So with the recent increase in spending for the Pentagon and outlays for the Department of Homeland Defense coupled with the indeterminable occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and a never-ending war on terrorism,is there any doubt that defense and related industries stocks won't see significant growth in the near future?

The current economy reminds me of the Eighties with its high unemployment but robust stock market. However, Dubya's done Reagan and his daddy one, maybe two, better; not only has he started a hot war with the invasion of Iraq but he's fashioned a new cold war in the war on terror. High unemployment and low-wage entry level jobs keeps enough disadvantaged youngsters interested in the military as a career to forestall any talk of reinstating the draft while increased defense spending keeps the munitions plants humming and defense industry related labor unions happy. And rising defense and homeland security related industry stock profits plus a gratuitous federal tax cut keeps the investing class happiest of all.

Why would Gephardt, Lieberman and Kerry want to upset this apple cart? As long as they throw a few crumbs to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and allied defense industry unions, they keep their seats in Congress warm while their industry sugar-daddies let them enjoy the fruits of an investor class life-style.

These three Democratic candidates for the presidency are, in my opinion, as good an example of the "two-headed monster" Ralph Nader said the major political parties of this country had become as there is. I can not really believe any of these three seriously think that any one of them can defeat George Dubya Bush in November 2004.

Why would they want to?

Nor I do not believe that Lieberman, Gephardt or Kerry will enthusiastically support the candidacy of any Democrat, other than someone from within their circle, who eventually garners the party's presidential nomination. Since the announced capture of Saddam Hussein of December 13, 2003 they are sounding more like the specter of the bellicose Henry "Scoop" Jackson, Democratic Senator from the State of Boeing and godfather to the reactionary Neocons Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and Richard Perle, than the pacifistic George McGovern.